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Mar. 5th, 2018 08:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatOscar recap? I found the telecast remarkably hopeful. A marked contrast from 2016 and even 2017 in some respects.
* I was happy "Shape of Water" won. Even if I don't put much weight on these things. Films like that seldom win. I think it shows how the film academy is changing.
* We need less WWII movies. And I'm sorry, Winston Churchill isn't that hard to portray. I'd have been happier if the actor from Get Out had gotten it, whose name I can't spell.
* Frances McDormand's speech was amazing. "Inclusion Rider" is a rider that an actor can put on their contract requiring a studio or flim set to be inclusive of people of all races, genders, and sexual orientations in their films. So for instance? 3 Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri had a diversified cast -- Peter Dinklage, African-Americans, a gay man, etc. Why? Because Frances McDormand, the wife of one of the Cohen brothers, has that rider in her contract.
Just think what the world would be like if we all did that? The books I've been writing include people of all kinds, mainly because that's my reality. My workplace has slowly become increasingly inclusive. The railroad and transit just implemented a policy that protects the rights of all genders, transgender, etc -- so that no one can discriminate against you based on how you dress or choose to express your identity.
* Also happy that Gullermo Del Toro won. He deserved it -- from the films that I saw, his was a true work of art, from a directorial perspective.
Co-worker was upset that Get Out didn't win, but I think co-worker may be slightly biased, mainly because he looks like the actor from Get Out and it was in a way an expression of his experiences.
That said, I'm also biased -- because I identified with Shape of Water and fell in love with it.
Which is why I tend to find these sorts of things rather silly.
However, I do agree with him in a way -- as much as I loved Shape of Water, Get Out is a film that changes film and how it is made. It is a ground-breaking film. It flipped tropes and subverted a genre. I felt the same way about Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the Wire, The Black Panther, MASH, Hill Street Blues, and The Good Place. But these types of things are seldom appreciated by mainstream critics and audiences and tend to get overlooked. People don't like change and works of art that question how we view the world and flip the view upside down and sideways, tend to be pushed to the side.
It's far too early for a film like Get Out to win. The fact that it was recognized and got best screenplay is huge in of itself.
* This is Me was robbed. I'm sorry, I saw the film Coco before the Oscars aired, literally two to three hours before, and Greatest Showman in Decemember, I remember This is ME, have heard it a lot and it stirs me. I can't remember "Remember Me" -- which yes, I know, is rather ironic in a way.
It's not a good song. Seriously. What were they thinking? We had Mystic River and This is Me to choose from.
* Best dress? Sandra Bullocks gold number. Although Nicole Kidman's was a close second. Both matched the set which looked like the inside of a quartz crystal or a set from Barbrarella, as Jane Fonda noted. I'd wear Sandra Bullocks -- it looked comfortable. No way in hell would I wear Kidman's.
* Can we stop nominating and making WWII films...there are other wars, seriously, WWII has been overdone. There is nothing new to say about it.
* Best commercial? In case you missed it? The Overlook Hotel Commercial that Aired During the Oscars
By far the most memorable and innovative commercial that I've seen to date.
* Best joke that isn't really a joke? Apparently Barbara Streisand really did clone her dog. I mentioned it to a co-worker who noted that some people just have too much money. Yep.
Apparently she has four dogs now. And you can only clone the look of the dog not the dog's soul, so it's not really the same dog. Confused? Yep, me too.
* Worst and most painful routine? The Star Wars cast...sigh. And every time Last Jedi was up for an editing award, I'd cringe. Just no. That has got to be the worst edited film that I've seen in a while. What are they thinking?
You do not nominate a film in desperate need of a good editor, where most of the people who saw it (aka not the diehard fans) got horribly lost, for editing. Visual effects, yes. Editing? No.
*Films I really want to see post Oscars?
- The Breadwinner
- Call Me By My Name
- I Tonya
- The Post
-The Florida Project
Pretty much seen the other ones that I wanted to see.
* I was happy "Shape of Water" won. Even if I don't put much weight on these things. Films like that seldom win. I think it shows how the film academy is changing.
* We need less WWII movies. And I'm sorry, Winston Churchill isn't that hard to portray. I'd have been happier if the actor from Get Out had gotten it, whose name I can't spell.
* Frances McDormand's speech was amazing. "Inclusion Rider" is a rider that an actor can put on their contract requiring a studio or flim set to be inclusive of people of all races, genders, and sexual orientations in their films. So for instance? 3 Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri had a diversified cast -- Peter Dinklage, African-Americans, a gay man, etc. Why? Because Frances McDormand, the wife of one of the Cohen brothers, has that rider in her contract.
Just think what the world would be like if we all did that? The books I've been writing include people of all kinds, mainly because that's my reality. My workplace has slowly become increasingly inclusive. The railroad and transit just implemented a policy that protects the rights of all genders, transgender, etc -- so that no one can discriminate against you based on how you dress or choose to express your identity.
* Also happy that Gullermo Del Toro won. He deserved it -- from the films that I saw, his was a true work of art, from a directorial perspective.
Co-worker was upset that Get Out didn't win, but I think co-worker may be slightly biased, mainly because he looks like the actor from Get Out and it was in a way an expression of his experiences.
That said, I'm also biased -- because I identified with Shape of Water and fell in love with it.
Which is why I tend to find these sorts of things rather silly.
However, I do agree with him in a way -- as much as I loved Shape of Water, Get Out is a film that changes film and how it is made. It is a ground-breaking film. It flipped tropes and subverted a genre. I felt the same way about Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the Wire, The Black Panther, MASH, Hill Street Blues, and The Good Place. But these types of things are seldom appreciated by mainstream critics and audiences and tend to get overlooked. People don't like change and works of art that question how we view the world and flip the view upside down and sideways, tend to be pushed to the side.
It's far too early for a film like Get Out to win. The fact that it was recognized and got best screenplay is huge in of itself.
* This is Me was robbed. I'm sorry, I saw the film Coco before the Oscars aired, literally two to three hours before, and Greatest Showman in Decemember, I remember This is ME, have heard it a lot and it stirs me. I can't remember "Remember Me" -- which yes, I know, is rather ironic in a way.
It's not a good song. Seriously. What were they thinking? We had Mystic River and This is Me to choose from.
* Best dress? Sandra Bullocks gold number. Although Nicole Kidman's was a close second. Both matched the set which looked like the inside of a quartz crystal or a set from Barbrarella, as Jane Fonda noted. I'd wear Sandra Bullocks -- it looked comfortable. No way in hell would I wear Kidman's.
* Can we stop nominating and making WWII films...there are other wars, seriously, WWII has been overdone. There is nothing new to say about it.
* Best commercial? In case you missed it? The Overlook Hotel Commercial that Aired During the Oscars
By far the most memorable and innovative commercial that I've seen to date.
* Best joke that isn't really a joke? Apparently Barbara Streisand really did clone her dog. I mentioned it to a co-worker who noted that some people just have too much money. Yep.
I was so devastated by the loss of my dear Samantha, after 14 years together, that I just wanted to keep her with me in some way. It was easier to let Sammie go if I knew I could keep some part of her alive, something that came from her DNA. A friend had cloned his beloved dog, and I was very impressed with that dog. So Sammie’s doctor took some cells from inside her cheek and the skin on her tummy just before she died. And we sent those cells to ViaGen Pets in Texas. We weren’t even sure if the cells would take.
Meanwhile I missed Sammie so much that I went out and adopted a rescue dog. She was a little Maltipoo and I named her Sadie, after the first dog I ever owned, given to me by the cast of “Funny Girl” on my 22nd birthday.
Then I got a call from Sammie’s breeder, who said, “I know how upset you are. If you’re interested, I have this little puppy, the only one in the litter, and her mother’s name is Funny Girl.” It felt like fate, as if it was meant to be. How could I refuse that little girl? So I took her, too, and named her Miss Fanny.
Apparently she has four dogs now. And you can only clone the look of the dog not the dog's soul, so it's not really the same dog. Confused? Yep, me too.
* Worst and most painful routine? The Star Wars cast...sigh. And every time Last Jedi was up for an editing award, I'd cringe. Just no. That has got to be the worst edited film that I've seen in a while. What are they thinking?
You do not nominate a film in desperate need of a good editor, where most of the people who saw it (aka not the diehard fans) got horribly lost, for editing. Visual effects, yes. Editing? No.
*Films I really want to see post Oscars?
- The Breadwinner
- Call Me By My Name
- I Tonya
- The Post
-The Florida Project
Pretty much seen the other ones that I wanted to see.
no subject
Date: 2018-03-06 02:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-03-06 03:07 am (UTC)1. The Day After
2. War Games
3. Red Dawn
I refuse to worry about this, but hey if you want to turn yourself into an anxious wreck over it, go right ahead.
I've made it to 50 and there's no WWIII. There has however been not one, but four Wars since then in which more people died and lasted far longer than WWII: 1)Korean Conflict, 2) Vietnam, 3)Gulf War, 4) Iraq War, 5.) Afghanistan War. And let us not forget the Cold War.
It's not like there's been a shortage of Wars in the 20th and 21st Centuries. Nor just two. I mean seriously, what rock have you been hiding under? ;-)
no subject
Date: 2018-03-06 03:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-03-06 03:23 am (UTC)There's nothing you can do about it. So, way I see it? You can either enjoy your life, or huddle in a corner and fret.
Again, I grew up in the 1980s, we were convinced Reagan was going to push the button and go to War with Russia. I'm guessing you didn't? Or don't remember? And in the 1950s? They had bomb drills every day. I live in an apartment building that has a yellow patch on it that states "fallout shelter".
You're more likely to get cancer, hit by a bus, contract a deadly flu virus, or get shot by a guy with AR-15 rifle than you are to end up in WWIII.
Worrying about things you have no control over s a waste of time.
no subject
Date: 2018-03-06 04:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-03-06 01:31 pm (UTC)Well, it's unlikely for a couple of reasons -- one no one wants to use their nuclear weapons, because if they do, they are dead. But they want to have them to ensure no one uses any nuclear weapons against them.
Technically we've had a World War since 9/11, aka the War on Terrorism. (Britain, France, Australia, Germany, Russia, etc have all been embroiled in the Wars in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq.)
So hey, already happening. ;-D
no subject
Date: 2018-03-06 02:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-03-06 04:48 pm (UTC)Also Vietnam and Korea....
Korean - was France vs. Korea, then US vs. France, then France pulled out, US vs. Korea and Russia. And Vietnam - up until Iraq and Afghanistan was the longest War we had. Now the War against Terrorism started in 2001/2002 and is still going on, 18 years later. We've lost more people in those wars than in WWII.
Syria is separate -- if you include civil wars? We have Serbia or Yugoslavia, the various wars/conflicts in Africa, the Arab Spring, the various Wars between Israel/Palestine.
I mean, when haven't we been at war?
no subject
Date: 2018-03-06 05:03 pm (UTC)https://youtu.be/RqCQQoMxn5k
no subject
Date: 2018-03-06 05:57 pm (UTC)Apparently Russia likes War, they keep doing it. Must be the cold climate.
But seriously? I think the problem is that neither Russia nor the US really suffered the damages that Britain, Germany, France, Japan did in WWI and WWII. Germany and Japan had over half their populations killed in those wars, plus occupation, and horrible after-effects. Britain also lost a lot -- they had a huge Empire in the Victorian period which was pretty much demolished into nothing during those Wars, with a constant influx of refugees and immigrants from all the countries they colonized, France had the same situation -- it lost a lot during those wars, and had a lot of refugees and immigrants as a result.
There are no victors in WAR only losers. Until you figure that out, you will keep fighting wars. GB, France, Germany and Japan have figured that out. The US and Russia are sort of behind the learning curve so to speak.
no subject
Date: 2018-03-06 06:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-03-06 08:07 pm (UTC)Not anything like what happened to Germany or Japan. Not even close.
Japan = Hiroshima and Nagosaki
Germany = the battle of Dresden - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Dresden_in_World_War_II
Britain = bombing was so bad, it took them forever to rebuild and the lost all their colonies
So, imagine what would have happened if NYC or Atlanta were craters? That was Dresden and Hiroshima, and Nagosaki.
Russia and the US have never experienced what Germany and Japan have experienced.
no subject
Date: 2018-03-06 09:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-03-06 08:09 pm (UTC)But hey, if you want to spend all your time fretting about war go ahead. I can't stop war. Right now, I can't get rid of the stupid NRA.
no subject
Date: 2018-03-06 09:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-03-07 01:08 am (UTC)Anyhow, I'm not sure what enjoying WWII movies have to do with preventing WWIII.
But to each their own.
If you want to prevent WWIII? You're sort of preaching to the choir here. ;-D.
(frozen) no subject
Date: 2018-03-07 01:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-03-06 03:28 am (UTC)Well, yeah, and anybody could've told her that even before we started cloning people's pets. (Which is a thing we've been doing since approximately Dolly.)
She's really lucky she got a dog that looked the same. I don't know enough about dog coats, but with cats their coloration is not just genetic but also affected by utero environment and a hefty dose of the randoms.
no subject
Date: 2018-03-06 03:43 am (UTC)I have no idea why she felt the need to do it, and why she didn't thoroughly research it first. Thought it was hilariously absurd on the Oscars...
Seriously dog people are weird. Cat people don't tend to do this sort of thing...possibly because we suspect that our cats are secretly plotting to kill us. ;-) (Saw that on FB this morning, how it is in the DNA of domestic cats -- they are anxious and aggressive animals, and if they were bigger, they'd kill us. I doubt it. I owned cats when I was a kid. All mine wanted to do was snuggle.)
no subject
Date: 2018-03-06 04:29 am (UTC)You'd be surprised. How do you think I learned that cloned cats don't look like their progenitors? There was an article on just this!
no subject
Date: 2018-03-06 01:33 pm (UTC)Sigh. Crazy pet owners. Sigh. Sometimes I feel very sorry for the pets.
I saw a dog this morning that looked exactly like the one Streisand felt the need to clone...it's not like there's a shortage of that particular breed wondering about.
Also, don't these people watch science-fiction?
no subject
Date: 2018-03-07 01:16 am (UTC)Sam Rockwell was amazing in Galaxy Quest and Moon, so I was rooting for him despite the controversy surrounding his character. He's one of those great character actors who never gets noticed... who just got noticed.
Frances McDormand just rocks. Why doesn't she have MORE Oscars? (I need to see "Three Billboards," don't I?
Del Toro should have won for Pan's Labyrinth, but they gave it to him here. Fair enough.
Gary Oldman is a brilliant actor, but I will never understand the Academy's jones for Best Performance in Heavy Makeup. The best performance by an actor this year was Daniel Kaluuya in Get Out. I can't imagine anything else coming close.
Alison Janney! My Phineas and Fern/West Wing loving heart went pitapat. Then I was sad because Laurie Metcalf lost.
Coco was the only animated feature that belonged up there. ("Boss Baby"? Really?)
Dear Basketball: a movie by Kobe Bryant about the greatness of Kobe Bryant.
Did you see Keegan Michael Key's reaction when Jordan Peele won? Man almost hit the ceiling. Key&Peele 4eva!
no subject
Date: 2018-03-07 02:05 am (UTC)One of my co-workers was rather annoyed by this development. I didn't get it -- of all the clips it was the least innovative or interesting. Sigh, awards shows, sigh.
Gary Oldman is a brilliant actor, but I will never understand the Academy's jones for Best Performance in Heavy Makeup. The best performance by an actor this year was Daniel Kaluuya in Get Out. I can't imagine anything else coming close.
Agreed. (Although according to the poster in one of the threads above Gary Oldman's performance may have single-handedly prevented WWIII, sigh if only movies were that powerful. They aren't. But hey, it would be nice.)
I would have given it to Daniel Kaluuya.
I need to see "Three Billboards," don't I?
Yes. Once you do, you will understand why Sam Rockwell won and was the obvious winner in that category. (I don't know what the controversy was about -- the character is weirdly redeemed in the film and it is a honest portrait of a lot of real people I've run across.)
Also, it has to be among Frances best performances.
She hasn't won more -- because she isn't in that many films. Did get the emmy for Olive Kitteridge, I think, and her first Oscar for Fargo.
The film is excellent.
I liked Shape of Water better.
Alison Janney! My Phineas and Fern/West Wing loving heart went pitapat. Then I was sad because Laurie Metcalf lost.
Mixed feelings. I haven't seen Janney's performance, did see Metcalf's which was admittedly awesome and the best thing in that movie.
Coco was the only animated feature that belonged up there. ("Boss Baby"? Really?)
Have you seen "The Breadwinner"? I may hold off until I see it.
Coco...disappointed me a little. The music was atrocious.
But the animation was clever and striking.